Sentinel's Eyes MTG Card


Sentinel's Eyes - Theros Beyond Death
Mana cost
Converted mana cost1
RarityCommon
TypeEnchantment — Aura
Abilities Enchant,Escape
Released2020-01-24
Set symbol
Set nameTheros Beyond Death
Set codeTHB
Number36
Frame2015
LayoutNormal
BorderBlack
Illustred byWisnu Tan

Key Takeaways

  1. Sentinel’s Eyes provides card advantage with its escape mechanic, allowing for repeatable use and board stability.
  2. It’s suited for white decks, enhancing creatures at a low mana cost but with some limitations in deck construction.
  3. Despite competition from similar auras, its unique vigilance attribute and graveyard return capability offer persistent threats.
Vigilance card art

Guide to Vigilance card ability

In the strategic universe of Magic: The Gathering (MTG), the vigilance ability stands out as a powerful tool for players. This potent keyword allows creatures to attack without tapping, keeping them ready and alert to defend against incoming threats. It represents a perfect balance between aggression and defense, offering a dynamic approach to gameplay. Lets dive deeper into how vigilance shapes the battlefield.

Text of card

Enchant creature Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has vigilance. Escape—, Exile two other cards from your graveyard. (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its escape cost.)


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Sentinel’s Eyes boasts an escape mechanic, offering a continual card advantage as it can return from the graveyard to the battlefield, ensuring your hand remains resourceful and your board presence sturdy.

Resource Acceleration: Although not directly providing mana resources, this aura enables resource acceleration by amplifying a creature’s power, allowing for faster and more efficient damage dealing, pushing you ahead in the race against your opponent.

Instant Speed: While Sentinel’s Eyes cannot be cast at instant speed, its low mana cost and escape ability mean it can quickly return to the fray, supplementing strategies that hinge on nimble, reactionary gameplay.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Contrary to what one might expect, Sentinel’s Eyes does not have a discard requirement, making this characteristic inapplicable for this enchantment.

Specific Mana Cost: While the mana cost for Sentinel’s Eyes is low, requiring white mana may restrict its inclusion to multicolored decks that can produce this mana type or to mono-white builds, potentially limiting its flexibility across various deck archetypes.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Although Sentinel’s Eyes has a comparatively low casting cost, it is notable that there are other aura cards with similar or even lower costs. These alternatives may provide more impactful abilities or stats boost for a similar investment, which could make Sentinel’s Eyes a less favored option in certain builds looking for optimized efficiency.


Reasons to Include Sentinel’s Eyes in Your Collection

Versatility: Sentinel’s Eyes is a boon for players who love to build around enchantment synergies or enhance creatures at a low cost. This card can be slotted into a variety of decks, particularly those focusing on Voltron strategies or those looking to exploit enchantment synergies within the White color pie.

Combo Potential: Thanks to its escape mechanic, Sentinel’s Eyes provides recurring value and combos well with strategies that manipulate the graveyard. Players can repeatedly cast it to buff creatures and maintain a presence on the battlefield, even after board wipes or removals.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta that values quick and resilient threats, Sentinel’s Eyes offers an edge, granting vigilance and a power boost for just a single white mana. This enchantment can be particularly useful in aggressive white-based decks, enhancing their staying power against control archetypes and sustaining attacks without leaving defenses open.


How to beat Sentinel’s Eyes

Sentinel’s Eyes is a versatile enchantment aura in Magic: The Gathering, known for its ability to provide Vigilance and a slight power boost with its +1/+1. Its low mana cost coupled with escape makes it resilient, often returning from the graveyard to enhance creatures multiple times in a game. To effectively counter Sentinel’s Eyes, players need a strategy to manage both the aura and the creatures it targets.

One effective approach to overcome Sentinel’s Eyes is to prioritize removal spells that can target both creatures and enchantments. Generous spells like Return to Nature or Mortify serve well here, offering flexibility to take out the aura or its enchanted creature. Moreover, using removal that exiles, such as Swords to Plowshares, ensures Sentinel’s Eyes cannot make a comeback with its escape mechanic, thereby hindering its longevity in the matchup.

Denying opponents the graveyard access is also a strong strategy. With cards like Rest in Peace or Leyline of the Void, players can neutralize Sentinel’s Eyes escape potential completely. By interrupting the recurring enchantment play pattern, you can maintain the upper hand and mitigate the steady advantages it provides to your opponent’s creatures.


BurnMana Recommendations

Unraveling the intricacies of MTG is a perpetual challenge. Cards like Sentinel’s Eyes ornament this endeavor with their persistent abilities and strategic depth. As we’ve dissected the pros and cons of this enchantment, its place in your arsenal is clear for certain strategies. Building a deck with resilience and aggression in mind? Sentinel’s Eyes could be a linchpin. Diving deeper into the wealth of enchantments MTG offers, you’re bound to discover combos and synergies that resonate with your playstyle. Hungry for more MTG insights and deck-building wisdom? Join our community where your journey towards enchantment mastery awaits.


Cards like Sentinel's Eyes

Sentinel’s Eyes is a distinctive option in the enchantment auras category of Magic: The Gathering. Its abilities echo those of cards like Ethereal Armor, which similarly boosts a creature’s power and toughness. However, Sentinel’s Eyes provides the added utility of vigilance, allowing creatures to remain on guard after attacking. Unlike Ethereal Armor, it doesn’t get stronger with the number of enchantments you control, but it compensates with escape – a way to bring it back from the graveyard.

Considering Cartouche of Solidarity, this enchantment aura grants a smaller boost to power but creates a valuable 1/1 token upon entering the battlefield. Sentinel’s Eyes lacks this token-generation aspect but offers the possibility of recurring play thanks to its escape mechanic. Another comparable card, Hyena Umbra, also offers a power increase and first strike rather than vigilance, with the added layer of protection with totem armor, safeguarding the enchanted creature from destruction.

To sum up, Sentinel’s Eyes stands as a resilient and versatile choice for players seeking to enhance their creatures over multiple turns. Its ease of return from the graveyard and the vigilance trait make it a staple for decks that aim to maintain offensive pressure while defending effectively.

Ethereal Armor - MTG Card versions
Cartouche of Solidarity - MTG Card versions
Hyena Umbra - MTG Card versions
Ethereal Armor - MTG Card versions
Cartouche of Solidarity - MTG Card versions
Hyena Umbra - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Sentinel's Eyes MTG card by a specific set like Theros Beyond Death, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Sentinel's Eyes and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Sentinel's Eyes has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
PioneerLegal
CommanderLegal
ModernLegal
PauperLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Sentinel's Eyes card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date Text
2020-01-24 After an escaped spell resolves, it returns to its owner’s graveyard if it’s not a permanent spell. If it is a permanent spell, it enters the battlefield and will return to its owner’s graveyard if it dies later. Perhaps it will escape again—good underworld security is so hard to come by these days.
2020-01-24 Escape’s permission doesn’t change when you may cast the spell from your graveyard.
2020-01-24 If a card has multiple abilities giving you permission to cast it, such as two escape abilities or an escape ability and a flashback ability, you choose which one to apply. The others have no effect.
2020-01-24 If a card with escape is put into your graveyard during your turn, you’ll be able to cast it right away if it’s legal to do so, before an opponent can take any actions.
2020-01-24 If you cast a spell with its escape permission, you can’t choose to apply any other alternative costs or to cast it without paying its mana cost. If it has any additional costs, you must pay those.
2020-01-24 Once you begin casting a spell with escape, it immediately moves to the stack. Players can’t take any other actions until you’re done casting the spell.
2020-01-24 To determine the total cost of a spell, start with the mana cost or alternative cost you’re paying (such as an escape cost), add any cost increases, then apply any cost reductions. The converted mana cost of the spell remains unchanged, no matter what the total cost to cast it was and no matter whether an alternative cost was paid.

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